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The Real Heart 
of the Missionary 
Problem 


By Dr. R. H. Glover 


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O80 


Christian and Missionary Alliance 
~ 690 Eighth Ave. New York City 


THE REAL HEART of the 
MISSIONARY PROBLEM 


An Address by Dr. Robert H. Glover at the 
New York Convention of the Christian 
and Missionary Alliance, Oct., IgIt. 


We have been listening to missionary addresses 
daily for a whole week. We have been given new 
visions of lands beyond the seas, with their dark- 
ness and suffering and despair. We have faced the ~ 
stupendous problem of a thousand millions still 
unevangelized. We have passed in review many 
phases of missionary work. The question before 
us tonight is, “What is the real heart of the mis- 
sionary problem?” Is it a problem of men? Or 
one of money? Or of method? It includes all 
these, but it is more. When we have pressed past 
all secondary considerations right home to the 
heart of the matter, I believe that in its last analy- 
sis we shall find it a problem of LOVE—+ersonal 
love for the Lord Jesus Christ. And why? Sim- 
ply because the very soul of Missions is SACRI- 
FICE, and LOVE is the supreme and only motive 
that can impel to the sacrifice involved. 

The spirit of Missions is just the spirit of Jesus 
Christ, and His was essentially a spirit of supreme 
self-sacrifice. Those words, “He saved others, 
Himself He cannot save,” flung derisively at Jesus 
as He hung upon the Cross, were after all the ex- 
pression of a profound truth. Had the Lamb of 
God in retaliation to that mocking cry come down 
from the cruel tree, our salvation would never 


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have become an accomplished fact. He has saved 
us, but it cost Him His own life to do it. 

Nor was this spirit of self-sacrifice confined to 
His death. It entered into His whole life from 
the manger to the tomb. “For we know the grace 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was 
rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye 
through His poverty might be rich.” Jesus was 
poor, literally poor. He chose to be so. He was 
born in a stable. He wore coarse clothes. He ate 
common food. His home, while He had one, was 
that of a peasant, and many a time later He had 
not where to lay His head. Finally, He was bur- 
ied in a borrowed tomb. And this literal poverty 
was part of the price He paid for the spiritual 
riches He has purchased for us. 

His personal ministry involved physical weak- 
ness, weariness, hunger and privation, and still 
greater suffering of mind and heart. As He in- 
cessantly “went about doing good,” ministering 
physical and spiritual healing to thousands, it 
meant the pouring out, little by little, of His own 
life and strength, His spending and being spent 
for others. In life, in death, He saved men at 
the cost of Himself. “He saved others, Himself 
He cannot save.” 

Listen to His own words, “Except a corn of 
‘wheat fall into the ground: and die, it abideth 
alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit. 
He that saveth his life shall lose it; he that loseth 
his life the same shall find it.” Such is the law of 
the*kingdom of God. Such is the law of mis- 
sionary life and labor. Well did the old Baptist 
“missionary society adopt as its symbol an ox 
standing between a plough and an altar and un- 


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derneath the words, “Ready for either or for 
both.” And when we quote the expression, “The 
blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church,” 
let us regard it as no mere sentiment, but as act- 
ual fact. We praise God for the missionary 
graves as well as the missionary stations, knowing 
that each of those precious lives laid down has 
contributed to the coming of the Kingdom of 
Christ. 

I believe there is need today to re-emphasize 
this principle of SACRIFICE in missions, as one 
that is fundamental, essential, vital. 


We live in an age in which self-sacrifice is by 
no means popular. The aim and effort are to 
eliminate sacrifice and to indulge ease and selfish ° 
comfort. This same tendency is creeping into 
Christian churches and homes, and producing a 
spirit of complacency insetad of concern with re- 
gard to missions. If individuals are not seriously 
disturbed or inconvenienced, can wear as good 
clothes, live in as comfortable homes and spend 
as much for pleasure or the whims of fashion; 
if home churches can still be as imposing and as 
luxuriously furnished, and as well equipped with 
musical talent; and if denominationalism can still 
be everywhere maintained, and every small town 
and many a mere village can have its three or 
four churches, each with a mere handful of wor- . 
shipers—if, I say, all these interests can be as- 
sured, and the pittance that is over, of men and 
money, will suffice to break the Bread of Life to 
a thousand millions for whom nothing is pre- 
pared, then the missionary project will receive a 
unanimous vote of approval. In a word, if we 
could save the heathen by the mere passing of a 


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resolution, without any appreciable sacrifice, with- 
out its costing us, we would. But the hard fact 
which we have to face is that WE CANNOT. 
Not merely is this clearly. demonstrated by the 
actual facts of the missionary enterprise today— 
its insufficient forces, its embarrassed treasuries, 
its inability to overtake the needs and opportuni- 
ties abroad—but it is equally plain for the reason 
that such easy accomplishment of the task is con- 
trary to the very Divine law of missions—the law 
of SACRIFICE. “He saved others, Himself He 
cannot save.” No more can we. God never in- 
tended we should. It would be to leave out of 
the missionary enterprise that which is its very 
essence and glory. God laid the foundation of 
this work of world redemption in sacrifice when 
it cost Him His only begotten Son, and He will 
finish it by no less worthy a spirit or costly a 
means. 


Yet thousands of individuals and churches, pro- 
fessing allegiance to Jesus Christ, are practically 
denying to millions of their fellow men the only 
opportunity of salvation through Christ, simply 
because they refuse or fail to meet this question 
squarely on tts only true and adequate basis of 
self-sacrifice. In the light of the world’s unsup- 
plied need and the Church’s unproffered resources 
it has still to be said, in plain honesty, that the 
Church as a whole is only playing at Missions as 
a sort of diversion instead of making the enter- 
prise its supreme business. 

I want to bring this question to bear upon, those 
who are gathered here. Have we the missionary 
spirit? Are we in this enterprise to the extent of 
any real sacrifice? Men are constantly asking, 


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“Do missions pay?” The question we would do 
better to ask is, “Do missions cost?” There is a 
standpoint, of course, from which the question as 
to whether missions pay may legitimately be asked 
and answered. But our concern at this moment 
- is not with the returns but with the Sacrifice of 
missions, and from this viewpoint missionary en- 
terprise is not meant to pay, it is meant to COST. 

I ask reverently, did missions pay Jesus Christ? 
No, they cost Him His life-blood. How much 
have they cost us for love of Him? I wonder if 
some of us under grace are not falling short of 
David under the law, in seeking to offer unto 
the Lord of “that which doth cost us nothing,” or 
very little. 

Now, there are three great outlets of missionary 
energy generally spoken of, namely, by PRAY- 
ING, by GOING, by GIVING. Let us think for 
a little of this feature of sacrifice in relation to 
each of these in turn. 


1. THE FIRST OUTLET OF MISSIONARY 
ENERGY IS BY PRAYING. 


I place prayer first because it belongs first. Mis- 
sions are not primarily a matter of men or money 
or method, but of the unhindered outworking of 
God Himself, and such outworking is always called 
forth pre-eminently through prayer. Prayer is the 
greatest power in the kingdom of God. The ap- 
peal for intercession should therefore be placed 
before even the appeal for men and money. But 
notice that an essential element of true missionary 
intercession is the sacrifice which it costs. . 

Our Lord has furnished us with a model for 
such prayer in His parable of THE FRIEND AT 


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MIDNIGHT. It tells of one who so took upon 
him another’s need that he rose from his bed and 
went forth through the darkness, at an unseason- 
able hour, to the house of his friend, there to 
knock and knock again, at the risk of incurring to 
himself the criticism and displeasure of others— 
all for the sake of imploring and securing aid 
for another want. 

What was it that won for that man’s request a 
full and satisfactory response? “I say unto you, 
enough he will not rise and give him because he 
is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will 
rise and give him as many as he needeth.” It was 
the element of self-sacrifice which made that 
prayer effectual. It was the thought of the lengths 
to which the man outside had gone in his concern 
for another that made it impossible for the man 
inside to refuse his request, however reluctant he 
at first was to rise from his bed. That man stirred 
his friend by bestirring himself. Just so’ shall we 
stir God when we bestir ourselves unto prayer. 
God’s complaint is that “there is none that stirreth 
up himself to take hold of Him.” We cannot 
blame God for seeming to be apathetic while we 
are apathetic. God waits to see in you and me 
His own concern and solicitude for the heathen, 
like the man abed in the parable. He wants to 
provoke us to earnestness, to sacrifice, to impor- 
tunity in prayer for souls who are starving for 
the Bread of Life, and then He will rise and give 
us for them as many loaves as we need. 

Beloved, have we prayed? Have we “prayed 
earnestly?” Have we “labored fervently in prayer?” 
-How much has prayer for the souls yonder in the 
darkness COST us—in time, in strength, in self- 


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denial? Any hours of deep concern? Any sleep- 
less nights of wrestling? If our prayers have 
cost us little they have availed correspondingly 
little. God is seeking intercessors. Oh, let us 
enter the honored list! 


2. THE SECOND OUTLET OF MISSION- 
ARY ENERGY IS BY GOING. 


We may sit back and comfortably sing, 


“Waft, waft ye winds His story, and you, ye 
waters, roll, 

Till, like a sea of glory, it spreads from pole to 
pole,” 


but that doesn’t solve the problem. The only way 
that the wind and waters can carry the Story’ the 
world around is by carrying forward men and 
women who go to tell it. We can’t stay at home 
and save the heathen. 

Here again does our Lord furnish us with an 
inspired model, in His parable of the GOOD 
SHEPHERD, so indelibly impressed upon our 
memories by Sankey’s immortal hymn, “The Nine- 
ty and Nine.” You remember how one of those 
verses runs: 


“Lord, whence are those blood-drops all the ‘way, 
That mark out the mountain’s track? 

They were shed for one who had gone astray, 
Ere the Shepherd could bring him back. 

Lord, whence are Thy hands so rent and torn? 

They’re pierced tonight by many a thorn.” 


Such was the path the Master trod; must not 
His servants tread it still? Missionary life and 
labor demand sacrifice. 


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Some must go—cheerfully leaving homeland 
and loved ones and fond associations, and surren- 
dering bright prospects and cherished plans—go to 
face uncongenial climes, and difficult languages, 
and strange peoples, to live and toil patiently and 
perseveringly, amidst hardship and dangers, if 
these “other sheep” are to be brought in. 


I will not lower my appeal by making the mis- 
- sionary life appear to be an easy one. True, it 
has its decided compensations, and even pleasant 
features, at times. Yet the true missionary life 
calls for self-sacrifice. It ought to be so. But 
shall this fact deter you? It is said that Napo- 
leon’s appeal for recruits for his army was in the 
words “Come and suffer!” Ought missionary ap- 
peal to assume in the followers of Christ a spirit 
less noble, less worthy than that of the common 
soldier? 

Young man, young woman! May not you be 
among those whom the Lord wants to go? Have 
you asked Him? Have you offered yourself? 
Is the sacrifice too great, the cost too dear, for 
His sake who has done so much for you? 

Some must let go. Parents are called upon to 
lay their children upon the altar for this blessed 
work. They are not to be denied their part in the 
precious sacrifice. I tell you that it is the fathers 
and mothers whose boys and girls are out on the 
fighting line who know best how to hold the ropes 
by prayer and sympathy, and sacrificial gift. If 
God is asking you, dear father, dear mother, for 
your son or daughter as a witness for’ Him in 
_some foreign field, I pray you refuse Him not, but 
willingly make the sacrifice, and you shall share 
the resultant joy and reward. 


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Some must help go. Churches, as well as par- 
ents, have their definite part to play, by sending 
forth workers, if the ranks on the mission field 
are to be filled up. Who shall be sent? The no- 
goods and cast-offs? Those who can easily be 
spared because of inferior gifts and abilities, and 
who never would make their mark at home? That 
is not the way it appealed to the church at Anti- 
och. They sent forth Barnabas and Saul, their 
very brightest and best, the ones most essential, 
as it seemed, to the church at home. And God 
blessed and multiplied that church in consequence, 
and let it displace the more selfish and narrow- 
minded church at Jerusalem as the great home- 
base of the missionary movement. “There is that 
scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is that 
withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to 
poverty.” Would that many a modern church 
would take a page out of the book of Antioch’s 
experience ! 


3. THE THIRD OUTLET OF MISSIONARY 
ENERGY IS BY GIVING. . 


But we need, like those of old, to have our of- 
ferings of gold and silver weighed in the scales 
of the sanctuary, in order to estimate them at their 
true value. Jesus still sits over against the treas- 
ury, watching the offerings of His people. How 
different His estimate of them from that of man! 
“Of a truth I say unto you that this poor widow 
hath cast in more than they all; for all these have 
of their abundance cast in—but she of her penury 
hath cast in all the living that she had.” Here is 
the very same principle again, this time applied to 
giving—the principle of SACRIFICE. With Christ 


Io 


the question was not “How much has each one 
given?” but “How much has each one reserved?” 
Hor only this latter question brought out the point 
of importance, namely, as to what each offering 
really costs its offerer. It is not giving any two 
mites, but giving the last two, that puts us in that 
widow’s class. 

Men and women! How much have we really 
given? Have we cast in “out of our abundance,” 
or “out of our penury?” Are we trying to serve 
God, satisfy our conscience and Save the heathen 
with our spare cash or pin money, or are we 
measuring up to the New Testament, “Freely ye 
have recewed, FREELY GIVE?” 

If we look for our Lord’s model for this third 
outlet of missionary energy, as in the former two, 
I think we have it in His parable of THE GOOD 
SAMARITAN. That poor victim of the thieves 
lies before us again in the picture of fallen, suf- 
fering, doomed humanity in India, Africa, China 
and every other heathen land. What are we going 
to do about it? Some of us, with the Scribe and 
Pharisee of old, are going to pause for a mere 
passing glance and then “pass by on the other 
side.” We are going to forget this vision of sor- 
row and despair, as we pass out into the rush of 
business and the swim of pleasure in this mighty 
metropolis, because we shrink from the COST of 
doing our duty. But others, thank God! will be 
found alongside of that Good Samaritan, whose 
heart was moved with compassion, who with eyes 
and feet and hands hastened to the rescue, who 
freely gave his time, his strength, his skill, his 
money, yea, his very self, and who saved a lost 
soul by the SACRIFICE OF GIVING. 


II 


And now, beloved, if you have followed me 
through this theme, and with me have seen that 
missions have a soul, and that that soul is SACRI- 
FICE, and that every output of missionary effort, 
be it by prayer, by going, by giving, involves and 
demands self-sacrifice, then I believe you will 
agree with me that the real heart of the mission- 
ary problem is LOVE, since Love alone is equal 
to the sacrifice that is called for. 

Listen to the familiar Word of.God. “God so 
LOVED the world that He gave His only begot- 
ten Son.” “God commendeth His LOVE toward 
us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died 
for us.” “Christ LOVED the church and gave 
Himself for it.’ What church did Christ love? 
Was it the church already saved, and cleansed, 
and sanctified, and radiant in His beauty? No, 
but it was the poor, vile, sunken sinners who 
through His sacrifice, His outpoured life, were to 
be lifted and transformed into such a church. 
And remember that some members of that church 
yet lie undiscovered amidst the gloom and vice of 
heathenism. Christ loves them. He gave Himself 
for them. He longs for them. But only as the 
LOVE of Christ constrains us to the SACRIFICE 
involved in seeking and finding them shall He see 
of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. 

LOVE IS THE SUPREME MOTIVE TO 
ALL TRUE SACRIFICE. It was LOVE that 
moved the Friend at midnight, the Good Shep- 
herd, the Good Samaritan. “LOVE never faileth.” 
Nothing less will avail. And if you are lacking 
the missionary spirit you are lacking LOVE. 

Conversely, SACRIFICE IS THE SUPREME 
TEST OF LOVE. “Hereby perceive we the love 


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of God, because He laid down His life for Us ; 
and we ought to lay down our lives for the breth- 
ren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth 
his brother have need, and shutteth up his heart 
of compassion from him, how dwelleth the LOVE 
of God in him?” 

Paul’s explanation to the Corinthians for send- 
ing messengers to receive their missionary offer- 
ings was that he might “prove the sincerity of 
their LOVE.” Wave you noticed that? Those 
Christians’ profession of love was tested and con- 
firmed not by any quantity of verbal assurances, 
but by the practical matter of their money offer- 
ings. If that may be the way Christ adjudges our 
professed love today, how does each of us stand 
before Him? “If ye love Me,” says He, “keep My 
commandments.” To Peter He said, “Lovest thou 
Mer” ‘Then, in proof of it, “Feed My sheep!” 
And the same Master looks down tonight upon 
those myriads of “other sheep,” wandering still 
without a shepherd, and cries, “O ye, who profess 
your LOVEto Me! GIVE YE THEM TO EAT?’ 

A ship was returning from distant gold-fields 
when, on nearing port, she suddenly struck a rock 
and began to sink. The passengers were forced 
to strike out for themselves and try to reach the 
shore. One strong man was preparing for the 
plunge when a friendless little girl stood before 
him. “Oh, sir,’ she cried, “will you save me?” A 
struggle was on in that man’s heart. Around his 
waist was strapped a belt filled with gold. It 
represented hard toil behind and pleasures and 
comforts before him. But there stood the little 
girl, helpless, pleading. One thing was sure—he 
could not save both. Which should it be? A mo- 


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ment of hesitation, and then with a resolute will 
he loosened the belt and flung it down. “Come, 
little one,” he responded, “hold fast around my 
neck!”—and with his living burden he plunged 
into the waves and finally reached the shore. He 
lay for a while unconscious after his exhausting 
effort, but when consciousness returned and he 
beheld that little maid bending tenderly over him 
and looking with loving gratitude into his face, 
he thanked God that he had played the man and 
had had the courage to save a precious life even 
at the COST of his gold. 

Beloved, that man’s decision is thrust upon more 
than one here tonight, with whom the choice is 
between the selfish use and enjoyment of gift, of 
gold, of life, and the rescue of precious souls 
through the SACRIFICE of these. Oh, when you 
reach the other shore, saved by His grace from 
the rolling billows, and shall see by your side 
radiant souls saved out of heathenism by your 
sacrificing gift and effort, how it will deepen hea- 
ven’s joy to you, and you will never cease to 
thank God for the grace and courage given you 
to make the right choice tonight! For “they 
that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the 
firmament, and they that turn many to righteous- 
ness as the stars for ever and ever.” 


“Oh, what joy it will be, when His face I behold, 
Living gems at His feet to lay down! 

It would sweeten my bliss in the city of gold, 
Should there be any stars in my crown.” 


May that joy be yours, not for our sakes alone, 
but for theirs, and HIS! 


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Copies of this tract, as well as of others dealing 
with the various foreign fields of the Christian 
and Missionary Alliance and the missionary enter- 
prise in general, may be secured FREE by ad- 
dressing Free Literature Department, 


CHRISTIAN ALLIANCE PUB. CO. 
692 EIGHTH AVENUE, 
NEW YORK CITY. 


The Christian and Missionary Alliance is an un- 
sectarian Society, carrying on misstonary work in 
nearly all the great heathen lands of the world. 
The work has included much pioneering and is 
strongly evangelistic in character. Nearly 300 
American and British missionaries are supported 
under this Society by the freewill offerings of 
Christian people, on a very moderate scale of re- 
muneration. 

Contributions may be sent to Mr. David Crear, 
Treasurer, and any inquiries, requests for mission- 
ary speakers, etc., to the Deputation Secretary, 
both at 690 Eighth Avenue, New York City. 


I9Iy 


